dotframe

We did the airport parking. Friday and Saturday we were laughing at everyone in line as we walked by and got right on our buses with little to no wait.

Sunday we had to wait for about 30-45 minutes to get on a bus. The good thing about the airport parking is once we got to our car there was no traffic leaving.

Next year will definitely be getting on site parking!

Derek@TRG

sounds like it was a positive experience for most poeple. You never know what will happen at a first event of this size.

NASCAR @ Kentucky 2011

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/10/1...frustrate.html

some poeple never made it to the track!!!

MikeQuig

Sounds like the clear consensus in terms of the best way in and out was the parking pass at the track - preferably near the section in which you're sitting. The tailgating idea definitely applies - we do it here at Red Rocks for concerts and at football games just in reverse - before vs. after.

Second place goes to airport parking - not a well known option so fewer folks to deal with.

Third is probably the bike option but admittedly it has a lot of moving parts but was fun. Fewer than a thousand people used it over 3 days which means that more people (1,200) came to the track by helicopter than by bicycle!

We never tried the shuttle b/c it was always full and seemed cumbersome at best.

We tried the bridge and turned around - bodies moved at a glacial pace perhaps in part b/c the screens they put up were not opaque enough to keep people from trying to watch the action so we lapped the track from the outside - all good

Happy Thanksgiving all! We'll do a cost/benefit analysis on lodging next week.

Mike Quigley
Specbox #23
Denver

Rene

I drove in Saturday morning @ 7am found a gentleman that has a few acres near the track he was letting people part for 20 bucks & it was only 2 blocks to the gate once quali was over walked back to my truck & got on on the highway in 10 mins. Best deal of the weekend!

TT Gasman

We were in turn 9 on the hill, top row excellent seats. We parked in lot F, it was the biggest lot, also the most dusty. I will try for lot H next year. I understand the grandstands will be different next year, permanent structures? Ingress and egress from the facility was pretty easy, a bit longer on Sunday but that's expected. I would like to see more variety and numbers of food vendors. More souvenir vendors would be nice too, especially if they would accept credit cards!

Richard Pankhurst

Mike great to see you and the Colorado guys. I agree with the consensus that on site parking was the way to go. We were in the turn 15 grandstand and parked in Lot F. The walk to and from the seats was about 10 minutes. We only waited in traffic on the way out on Sunday but still the journey home to my house in south west Austin was only 20 minutes longer (1 hour in Sunday) than Friday and Saturday. I picked up my parking on stub hub the week before. Well worth every penny! To make it more economical next year we can plan ahead and car pool with other PCA and Rennlist members.

Bud Kobayashi

That very great deal and close too. We flew to helipad, but with only 115,000 there probably not required for next year. Remind me of big Georgia SEC game.

e9stibi

Expo Center P&R worked fine for us. Much better than expected. I did not mind the walk but I am European ... Would do this again.

Bob_in_Chicago

Luckily, my step mom's house is only 30mins away. We $pend to park in Lot L for seats in Turn 5 Grandstand. See USCarrara's photos --that's what we saw.

My biggest gripe: they need more food booths plus lots more variety with Mom&Pop homemade stuff.

MikeQuig

Let's all just hope that the championship is still in doubt when the race comes to Austin next year - that the COTA race is not derailed by a Bernie incarceration or the over-fracking of TX. To a man, it sounds like everyone really enjoyed the experience of going to a Formula One race in the USA, all without too much bother. We'll all tweak the entry/egress process next year but the bottom line is that the track is a winner and the facility is marvelous.

Mike Quigley
Specbox #23
All tucked in for winter in Denver

95ONE

That was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. For a first time ever scenario in a, "just in time" construction build site, It went extremely well. The bridge was certainly a nasty bottleneck and the food vendors certainly took too long, but like everyone has said, that was very minor. It seemed everyone there was genuinely happy to be there, and the energy was fantastic.
I'd have to say sections/turns 5 and 9 were the best. I snuck into almost all of them to get a view in the days leading to the race. I only had General Admission seats. I ended choosing top of Turn 1 directly in front of the large screen for the race. I felt more in tune with the race at Turn 1 since I got to see the start, and the leader board, hear the loud engine echo from the front straight, and hear the announcers while I watched the rest of the race from the big screen. Very satisfied.
The parking ingress and egress were fantastic. I was using the Expo Center. Right up until the mass exodus after the race. I actually left on the last lap. I was out of there in about 20-30 minutes. People who were 10 minutes behind me weren't so lucky. They were in line to the bus for about 1-2 hours.

I hated that Schumacher's parade lap Mustang didn't start.

I was glad to see a local Houston racer in the #41 Porsche Cup car from Effort racing, driven by Mike Mills make the Podium. He told me he should have won. I probably shouldn't have told him that everyone says that. lol.

Greg Smith

Does anyone have the results for the GT3 race?